British Lions captain Paul O’Connell will resume battle in a mouth-watering Heineken Cup tie for Munster against Irish rivals Leinster. The newly-appointed Lions leader will join up with the Red Army ahead of the crunch All-Ireland clash at Croke Park in Dublin.

Munster, fresh from seeing eight of their stars – O’Connell, Jerry Flannery, Donncha O’Callaghan, Alan Quinlan, David Wallace, Tomas O’Leary, Ronan O’Gara and Keith Earls – included in the Lions squad will aim to successfully defend their crown.

The two-time champions thrashed the Ospreys 43-9 at Thomond Park in the quarter-finals and will start as favourites to reach the final in Murrayfield on May 23.

Leinster have four Lions players in their squad including Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll, Rob Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and Jamie Heaslip. And Michael Cheika’s men overcame a resiliant Harlequins 6-5 at the Twickenham Stoop to reach the final four for the first time since 2006 – where these sides last met in their only ever European tie.

Munster won 30-6 at Landsdowne Road on the road to their first Heineken glory against Biarritz at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff while Leinster have lost all their three previous semi-finals back in 1996, 2003 and 2006.